Black Numenoreans

So, here I will be addressing together the Easterlings, Southrons, Corsairs and Wild Men. They are all characterized as lesser powers in the sense that they do not have their own foreign policies independent of a sponsor or Great Power Alliance. Of these four aligned with the forces of darkness, three are allied directly with Mordor. Only Wild Men are under the direction of Saruman. They all seem to have various motives for their choices as well as how they fight. The Corsairs of Umbar, while not a great land power, are the greatest navy at the time – and also allied directly with Mordor.   Lets start with the commonalities between them. Many of the factions in this section tend to not have any real centralized authority. Like the pastoral societies that of Rohan, these groups can be expected to be organized around loose collections of tribal groups with property held by the family. There was not much of a central authority – tribal councils tended to be the main body in place of traditional governments. Enforcement of norms was rooted in the concept of honor, or reputation and how people are viewed by the rest of society. Violations of honor often extended shame to the whole family. Defense of honor and the moderation of disputes revolved around violence. Often, this violence could be provoked by simple insults and result in death. With this sort of culture of honor and violence came an expectation of fearlessness. This applied to not only individuals, but tribal groups as well.   When there is no police or courts, honor is essential to building trust between people. Honor becomes a valued tool to build trust between people who can’t rely on some formal institution to enforce contracts. The extensions of shame to a whole family means that they would police their own members. To not honor a deal could be economically disastrous. No one will trust and therefore would not do business with someone. Vigilante justice is the norm in extreme cases. Though shunning, isolation and exile are more common. Due to these consequences, people will go to extreme lengths to disprove allegations. Dueling evolved as a tool in honor cultures to contain disputes. Revenge and retaliation is needed to appear tough, so no one would question or cross a person. The unfortunate result of these elements is a much higher murder rate and long-standing feuds between families.   Cultures of honor tend to evolve in tribal societies, especially nomadic ones with little central authorities. These people tend to have few possessions, but the loss of them could result in their death (say a bow needed for hunting, or cattle). Often, these societies carry everything with them in a context where these items can be more easily stolen. Meanwhile, resources are relatively scarce and the benefits can outweigh the risks. When theft is easy, has high rewards, is devastating to the victim and no third parties are readily available to stop them, personal violence is needed to scare off transgressions. This means personal safety requires the perceived threat of swift and disproportional revenge being taken.   Short (2010), pp. 40–44.   So, the Wild Men and Southrons are the clearest examples of societies that fit this model. But the Corsairs also have key points that would make this model work. Violence and theft is a way of life for them - they are literally pirates after all. Centralized authority would probably be highly frowned on and violently opposed. So we can assume that this culture of honor model would be the organizing model by default. The Easterlings appear to have evolved past this nomadic past where this typically evolves. But they do still have their clan based social structure and many cultural traditions that remain from their nomadic past. We can assume that these ideas would carry over to them too.   Now, tribal wars would be common between these groups. The "Wild Men" and Southrons I would imagine would be the clearest example of this phenomenon. But the Corsairs and Easterlings would do the same thing, just in different forms.